SSM Supporting Team Events Practice Question
During the Daily Stand-up, a developer spends several minutes detailing a highly technical architectural disagreement with another developer. What should the Scrum Master do?
⚠ Common exam trap
Candidates choose options that let the detailed technical debate continue during the stand-up or suggest the Scrum Master solve the technical problem themselves.
Answer choices
Why each option matters
Answer the question above first, then reveal the full breakdown to understand why each option is right or wrong.
Correct answer & explanation
✓
Interrupt the discussion and ask the two developers to hold a 'meet-after' to resolve the issue.
The Daily Stand-up is a time-boxed, 15-minute event meant for synchronization, not deep-dive problem solving. The Scrum Master must protect the meeting's purpose and ensure it remains focused on progress toward the Iteration Goal. By redirecting deep technical discussions to a follow-up meeting, the Scrum Master respects the team's time while ensuring the technical issue gets the attention it requires.
Answer analysis
Option-by-option breakdown
For each option: why learners choose it and why it is or isn't the right answer here.
- ✗
Allow the discussion to continue so the issue is resolved immediately.
Why it's wrong here
Allowing the discussion to continue consumes the team's time and risks making the Daily Stand-up irrelevant for others. It violates the time-box constraint and shifts the focus from synchronization to problem-solving. This keeps the team from discussing their own progress, essentially derailing the intended purpose of the event.
- ✓
Interrupt the discussion and ask the two developers to hold a 'meet-after' to resolve the issue.
Why this is correct
The Scrum Master is responsible for keeping the Daily Stand-up focused and time-boxed. Facilitating a 'meet-after' ensures the technical debate is handled by the relevant parties without wasting the entire team's time. This preserves the meeting's utility while ensuring the technical problem is acknowledged and scheduled for resolution.
- ✗
Join the debate to provide an expert opinion and force a quick resolution.
Why it's wrong here
A Scrum Master acts as a servant leader, not a technical arbiter. Forcing a resolution undermines the developers' autonomy and may ignore nuances that only they understand. The Scrum Master's role is to facilitate the process, not to dictate technical solutions, which helps build a self-organizing and capable team.
- ✗
End the Daily Stand-up immediately as the team is clearly not aligned.
Why it's wrong here
Ending the meeting prematurely prevents the rest of the team from sharing their updates and identifying blockers. It is an overreaction to a single technical tangent. The Scrum Master should manage the meeting flow, not abandon the event, ensuring that everyone gets a chance to sync on daily work.
About these practice questions
This SSM question is part of Courseiva's 385-question bank — original exam-style content with full explanations and wrong-answer analysis, never real exam questions or exam dumps. Learn why practice questions differ from exam dumps →
JA
Written and reviewed by Johnson Ajibi, MSc IT Security
Senior Network & Security Engineer · founder of Courseiva
Last reviewed September 2026 · checked against the official Scaled Agile exam blueprint
This SSM practice question is part of Courseiva's free Scaled Agile certification practice question bank. Courseiva provides original exam-style practice questions with explanations, topic-based practice, mock exams, readiness tracking, and study analytics to help learners prepare for the SSM exam.